*This article was first published in the New Telegraph on January 15, 2025.
If all members of all other political parties in Nigeria decide to pour into one party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), neither the leader, President Bola Tinubu nor the benefitting party (APC) should be blamed.
The blame, if at all, should rather go to the decamping politicians who choose to leave their various political parties to join the ruling party, out of either personal or group interests. It is the opposition parties that may be trying to deny Nigeria the status of a multi-party democracy, knowingly or unknowingly. This dream however, remains a far cry.
That a governor or senator “crosses the floor or carpet,” leaving the political party that elected him or her to office and joins another, may seem downright pervasive at first glance. But the reality is that there is no social shaming that comes with cross-carpeting anywhere in the world, except when it is done unlawfully or against the letters of the electoral law governing the country.
The 39th president of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter, who just passed on at the age of 100 years, was quoted as having said that: “A government is as good as its people.”
Although Carter did not say that a government is as bad as its people, that, however, is not less implied. When a member leaves his or her party for frivolous or no cogent reason, you can be sure he or she is acting out of selfishness, not for group interests.
When America’s John F. Kennedy said: “In politics, no permanent friends or enemies but permanent interests,” he meant that more of group interests should be pursued in politics by politicians and not personal interests.
This ADVISORY easily arrived at the above conclusion being that the matter under discussion borders on representative democracy which places group interests above self. The difficult question begging for an answer therefore is: what does a representative do when it becomes obvious that his or her party is no longer a viable vehicle to help him win the next election? Stay and wait to drown in the approaching flood or move away to safety? Survival is the object and soul of political struggle.
Members of opposition parties are at the moment flocking into the ruling APC, having sensed the limitations in their possibilities, going into the 2027 general elections, as things stand. Nigeria is a country known to be stuck in its old ways and change does not always come easy.
When in 1951, the National Council for Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) won a majority in the Western Regional House of Assembly, it didn’t take long before the NCNC lost 20 members to the Action Group (AG), through lobbying and gerrymandering, and that prevented the NCNC from leading the assembly as majority party.
Section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) prohibits any parliamentarian from leaving the political party which brought him or her to office, except there is an obvious crisis in the party.
One can see that there is, doubtless, some form of constitutional control to limit cross-carpeting in Nigeria’s democracy; but how remote or effective that control has proved to be is a matter for another day. Cross-carpeting is not always as easy as kicking the can along the road.
It sometimes goes with its own risks, ups and downs. Governor Abubakar Rimi of Kano State, who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in 1979, thought he had perfectly plotted his path to decamp and still win with the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), only to kiss the dust by losing to his deputy, Alhaji Audu Dawakin Tofa, who stuck with the PRP in the 1983 governorship election.
And that is not to say that people who leave their parties for others always lose; interestingly, decampees to popular parties almost always win, more than they lose.
In the United Kingdom, for instance, many if not most people who switch or join opposing parties have always won with their new parties, and a few have won as independents. The Speaker of the House of Commons does not belong or have any political party affiliation and therefore stands election as an independent candidate.
However, hell was let loose on the former UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, when she lost everything gained in her political career, starting with her Prime Ministership which lasted just 49 days due to poor policy articulation and vision in 2022. That brief experience made her the shortest-serving Prime Minister in the history of the United Kingdom. Ms. Truss’ case was markedly different, in that she did not change party but lost her seat in 2024 because she remained, among other reasons.
In Nigeria, even though some members of the public see crossing the floor in parliament as a blot on the integrity of the politician, the reality is that switching of party is sometimes absolutely necessary in many circumstances.
There are instances where moving from your political party is not just considered an option but the only way out. Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe, Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a relative, classmate and friend of this author, almost kissed political dust himself if he did not jump out of the disaster-headed vehicle of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which not only refused Abaribe a return ticket, but hit the political rock itself by losing the federal election and remaining in minority at the National Assembly.
Abaribe won the election back into the Senate with his new party. Despite being the Minority Leader of the Senate for many years, his party, the PDP, didn’t mind attempting to throw Senator Abaribe under the bus; but for his quick thinking which resulted in his decamping to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which saved his political career and helped him retain his seat in the Senate, where he is respected for his integrity, dexterity and diversity of personality.
Dr. Alex Otti, Governor of Abia State, is another Nigerian politician who has not only benefitted, but has had his constituency, Abia State, benefit from switching parties.
Although Dr. Otti had flipped parties several times without winning, he got it right this time when he left the ruling APC to join the Labour Party (LP) due to the uncertainty of getting the governorship ticket of the APC in 2023. This goes to show that politicians who know their onions know not only when to move but where to move to; although with a bit of luck.
When people criticise or condemn President Tinubu and his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, for causing the influx of politicians from the opposing parties into the APC, this ADVISORY thinks differently.
Political or parliamentary floor-crossing only happens after deep thinking and consideration by the decampee who sees his action as the only way to survive a bleak future; and not always because of inducement or opportunity to reap where he or she did not sow.
President Bola Tinubu and the APC must continue doing what they are doing, which they promised to do for the good of the people of Nigeria, through the renewed hope agenda. Opposition members leave their political parties to go to where they see hope.
The last time this ADVISORY checked, it was discovered that more opposition party members, including governors, were at the gate seeking entrance into the APC.
If Nigerians willingly decide to make a Lee Kuan Yew out of a Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s economy might have a chance to be the better for it; who knows? It won’t be a crime if the ruling party woos or asks some patriotic and competent ones among the opposition to: “come over to Macedonia and help us.”
*This article was first published in the New Telegraph on January 15, 2025.
